Avi Scher & Dancers, Photos

Ack, you guys I’m working 13-hour days right now and have virtually no time for anything but working, eating, and sleeping, but I wanted to get some photos up of the recent performance by Avi Scher & Dancers that I saw at the Alvin Ailey Theater on Sunday afternoon. All photos are by fabulous dancer-turned photographer, Matthew Murphy.

I don’t have much time to write, but as always, I really enjoyed Avi’s choreography, combined with the excellent dancers he gets to perform his work. As always, it’s incredible – really truly incredible – to be able to see such renowned dancers on a small stage in a small, intimate theater.

Above are Carla Korbes and Seth Orza, principal dancers formerly with NYCB, now with Pacific Northwest Ballet, in Scher’s Mirrors, a somewhat Jerome Robbins-like piece (it reminded me a bit of Dances at a Gathering anyway), that had its premiere this weekend. Korbes and Orza beautifully danced the romantic pair at the heart of the piece. Also in that piece, ABT’s always entertaining Craig Salstein danced a comical duet with ABT’s Nicole Graniero. I love Craig. I do. As huge a crush as I used to have on Seth when he was with NYCB, I have to say Craig stole the show 🙂

Ooooh, I really loved this couple. It’s Joseph Gatti and Misa Kuranaga from Boston Ballet and they danced the second piece, Utopia. I loved both – and initially couldn’t figure out where I’d seen Gatti before but now I’m thinking it was a Wheeldon Morphoses piece. (Sorry, I don’t have time to look it up!) Kuranaga really took my breath away in this. She was really striking. She had such beautiful lines and danced with such passion. In the end, she threw herself at him ecstatically and he caught her. Sweet.

This is Ana Sophia Scheller, NYCB soloist, in Dreamscapes, the fourth piece of the night, which was also having its premiere. She had a fast-moving part up front and she did very well with it. She’s standing out to me more and more lately.

Scheller with Tyler Angle (NYCB principal, and one of my faves of that company). I thought the dancing in this last piece was spectacular. So many really top notch dancers… Sofiane Sylve, formerly of NYCB and now a principal with San Francisco Ballet, was stunning in a late section where she danced an insanely fast-footed allegro duet with with NYCB’s Savannah Lowery. Lowery always amazes me when I see her dance with Avi’s group on a small stage like this. She’s got such an athletic build and Scher always makes her look so good. He gives her choreography and costumes that really suit her. (NYCB’s Janie Taylor did the costumes).

Sofiane Sylve. It was nice to see her in NY again. And Orza 🙂

Scher is a very likable young choreographer who studied at the School of American Ballet. He has lots of NYCB connections and you can see influences of Balanchine, Robbins, and Christopher Wheeldon in his work (the third piece was called Classroom Fantasy, was danced by students of the Manhattan Youth Ballet, and reminded me a bit of Wheeldon’s early Scenes de Ballet albeit more comical). I think Scher is definitely a choreographer to keep an eye on for the future.